Provides examples of children's literature that can be used to begin dialogs on issues of similarities, differences, prejudice, exclusion and inclusion, violence, and social justice. Picture books chosen for broad appeal and multiple uses, even with older students, are described. (SLD)

Describes a project to create a centralized database of digitized sound accessible from distributed personal computers for the study of foreign languages. The system is also comprised of the tools to manage and distribute the sounds, a combination constituting a unique attempt to provide a universal structure to describe, categorize, and listen to…

Suggests that immigrant Latino parents have an ethnotheory of child development that emphasizes being part of a group, and that this ethnotheory conflicts with teachers' views focusing on the development of individual potential. Analyzes three dialogues from parent-teacher conferences to illustrate parent-teacher cooperation or discord in the…

Analyzes the academic stock-story that portrays ethnic studies classes as limited in substantive content, noncomparative, and only useful if they meet specialized curriculum needs. Discusses how to structure a Chicano sociology class as response to the academic stock-story and addresses the advantage of a diversity requirement in universities.…

Teachers at two urban elementary schools with a history of low student achievement in reading met in weekly study groups to engage in structured dialogue about teaching practice. These groups were established through the support of the Urban Literacy Institute, a joint project of Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and the Dayton, Ohio,…

The messages teachers convey to their students through their use of language can often go unconsidered, yet such practices can have a significant impact on students and their schooling, and in the creation of learning difficulties. In this paper we employ a discursive and ideological approach to analysing teachers' language practices and suggest…

One of the item types in the Listening Comprehension section of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) test is the dialogue. Because the dialogue item pool needs to have an appropriate balance of items at a range of difficulty levels, test developers have examined items at various difficulty levels in an attempt to identify their…

Ways to improve the role-playing conversations found in most second language textbooks are outlined. It is argued that the conversations are often restrictive, dull, and repetitive, and students respond to them in kind. The teacher can make the target language used more interesting by creating new characters, situations, settings, or objectives.…

Dialogues, or role-playing, are useful in second language instruction because they increase student motivation to learn the language, enhance self-esteem by showing students they can express themselves in realistic communicative activities, and inhibit students less than non-simulated situations. In one teacher's approach, students have no…

This report describes a specific approach to two current trends in Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) research: (1) an emphasis on metacognitive skills which are not domain specific; and (2) a move away from viewing ITS research as being exclusively concerned with "knowledge communication." A human-computer dialogue model designed to…

Interpersonal communication competence has been conceptualized as a function of impressions of competence formed in the context of a dyadic relationship, and also in terms of individual behaviors. The Measure of Relational Competence, along with individual self-reports for empathy, role taking, and self-monitoring, were administered for 36…

These materials for Spanish instruction are based on the meeting and friendship of two Puerto Ricans arriving in Puerto Rico for visits to their hometowns, their discussions of Puerto Rican life, and a sightseeing tour of San Juan. Introductory passages to the visitors' dialogues are in English, and dialogues are in Spanish, with photographs,…

This selective review of literature presents research and theory in support of the proposition that language is an essential component of early artistic development, and is crucial to the nature and nurture of visual expression. Young children frequently accompany drawing activities with descriptive, reflective, and social conversation, verbally…

Assumptions about nature and personhood and the relationship between the two are implicated in the aim of doing philosophy with elementary school students and transforming classrooms into communities of inquiry. Assumptions are also made about dialogue; truth; knowledge; and the ability of children to form communities that will engender care for…

A guide to second language teaching methods is designed for language teachers giving French instruction to Peace Corps volunteers. It consists of an introductory section on the aims and organization of a related series of instructional guides and an extensive section on 32 specific classroom techniques and activities for use with that series. Each…